The Works of E. T. Wickham, Then (1960s) and Recent (June, 2002)

                             Then                                                               Recent

My grandfather's cabin is now cloaked and hidden by the lush wisteria vine that he planted by the archway at the entrance to the drive to his house in the late 1950s.  I remember the fragrant purple wisteria flowers hanging like grapes from his concrete archway.  He also planted multiflora roses, hollyhocks, and irises around his cabin; now the only surviving flowers which he planted are the aggressive wisteria vine and multiflora rose which he planted as a living fence along the road by his house.  The multiflora rose bushes and pine trees gave him some privacy as well as a place for birds and rabbits to thrive. It also invited snakes--I recall finding a copperhead in the early 1960s only 20 feet from the chimney of his house as I was cutting bushes.

The Lady of Fatima and the remains of my grandfather's sundial (photo provided by Mary Evans) are now sheltered by the fragrant multiflora rose and wisteria vine.  It is nearly a miracle that this statue remains intact while the other statues on the other side of the road have been decapitated and severely dismembered by vandals.  Efforts should be made to protect and preserve this statue as it is the only one left in good condition at the E. T. Wickham site.  As it is, this complete statue is in constant peril of desecration by vandals. 

Fortunately, Ned Crouch (Director of the Customs House museum in Clarksville) rescued the Sergeant York Statue and a few others.  If there is a will, there is a way.  Hopefully, at least one or two more will be moved to a safe location and restored. 

While my grandfather was alive, he took better care of his statues than his house or yard because making statues and displaying them to the public were of utmost importance to him.  It kept him physically and mentally strong into his eighties, but eventually age caught up with him.  Fortunately he was active up to the time of his death--he was still working a tobacco crop down at the Wickham home at the age of 87 shortly before he died.  Tanner Wickham was a strong man who survived typhoid fever when he was young and he endured the loss of his father when he was just a young nine-year old boy and the loss of his mother when he was in his 30s.  His beloved son, Ernest, died as a soldier in Europe during WWII.  My mother said he told the family not to display Ernest's photo in the Wickham home for a long time after Ernest's death.  He survived the deaths of all his brothers and sisters and he lost his wife, Annie, in 1968, two years before his own departure. In 1950, he looked after his brother Wayne for several months before his brother died.  Grandpa was fiercely independent--he didn't want to be a burden on others and he certainly didn't want to stay in the hospital or nursing home for an extended period. I do remember a time when my grandfather had to stay off his feet for a few weeks as a burn wound healed on one of his feet.  Mary and Clifton Evans brought him his meals during those weeks he couldn't get around. This strong-willed man refused to let old age and illness keep him down for very long.  When he was 87,  he knew his time was up so when the doctors wanted to operate on him to remove a tumor in his colon, he told them "No" and explained " I'm like a ripe apple on a tree, if  this wind doesn't get me the next one will".  He died the next day; even at the end E. T. did it his way.

On the base of this statue, Grandpa inscribed words something like this:  "I'm headed out to the wild and woley west, remember me boys while I'm gone".  We are doing that--he is probably more famous today than  he was four decades ago while he was alive. (The photo on left was provided by Mary Evans and the eyes were digitally enhanced)

Back to Wickham Main Page: A Tribute to my Grandfather, E. T. Wickham